Peimee foe caeteidges



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

T. R. BAYLISS.

PRIMER FOR CARTRIDGES. No. 400,165. Patented Mar. 26,. 1889.

Wirwasas j N. PETERS. Pnuwumo nu, Washington, 04 c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS RICHARD BAYLISS, OF NORTHFIELD, COUNTY OF 'WORCESTER,

ENGLAND.

PRIMER FOR CARTRIDGES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 400,165, dated March 26-, 1889. Application filed November 10, 1887'. Serial No. 254,803. (No model.) Patented in England May 14, 1887, No. 7,085.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS RICHARD BAY= LISS, of Northfield, in the county of Worcester, England, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, have invented new or Improved Movable Primers for Cartridges or Ammunition and other Explosive Charges, (for which I have obtained Letters Patent in Great Britain, No. 7,085, dated May 14, 1887,) of which the following is a specification.

My invention is especially applicable to cartridges or ammunition for quick-firing guns; but my said invention may also be applied to cartridges or ammunition for other guns firing heavy charges, and to other explosive charges-such, for example, as explosive charges used in blasting and mining.

In some cases heretofore the primers used with the cartridges or ammunition of quickfiring guns have been tightly placed in the bases of the cartridges by mechanical means and form permanent or fixed parts of the cartridges. The said ordinary primer is usually fixed in its place before the cartridgecase is charged'with powder and projectile, and consequently is always a source of danger through the risk of accidental explosion.

The object of my invention is to avoid the risk of accidental explosion referred to; and it consists in making the primers of cartridges or ammunition or other explosive charges movable or detachable from the cartridges, ammunition, or charges, and capable of being securely fixed in their places in the bodies of the cartridges, ammunition, or charges when the latter are required to be fired.

By the use of my improved primers the cartridge cases or ammunition can be loaded with powder and projectiles and completed with the exception of the primers, and when it is required to prime the cartridges and fit them to be fired the primers are fixed in their places by the pressure of the thumb, no mechanical appliances being required. By these means the cartridges or ammunition or other explosive charges can be safely stored and completed for firing with great facility.

My new or improved movable primers consist of a metallic tubular case having a cavity in its base to hold the percussion-cap, and also a rim for taking into the recess in the base of the shell, hereinafter described. The body of the primer-case may form, if required, a receptacle for holding a small charge of powder. In. front of this receptacle is a wad. The metallic case thus constructed has somewhat the appearance of a small blank-cartridge, with the exception that the open end of the tubular body does not terminate where the wad described is placed; but the said body extends some distance beyond the said wad. The portion described of the primer-case beyond the part Where the wad is situated is slit longitudinally by one or more slits or incisions, so as to make that portion elastic or capable of expanding and contracting. In the elastic part of the primer-case is an annu larbead or projection for springing into a correspondingly-shaped groove or recess in a tubular shell in the base of the cartridge, and thereby holding the said primer securely in its place. The open end or base of the shell for receiving the primer has an annular sunken seat on which the rim of the primer seats itself, so that the head of the primer is flush with the end or base of the said shell.

In order to put and fix the primer in its place it is only necessary to introduce its split part into the open end of the tubular shell in the cartridge and press the primer by means of the thumb into the said chamber.

Figure l of the accompanying drawings represents in vertical section the base of a metallic cartridge-case,to which a movableprimer constructed according to my invention is fixed. Fig. 1 represents a plan of the central part of the cartridge-case. Fig. 2 represents in vertical section the movable primer detached; and Fig. 3 represents in section, detached, the tubular shell at the base of the cartridge-case, in which'tubular shell the movable primer is placed and fixed. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 represent modifications of the primer, as hereinafter particularly explained.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawlugs.

The primer, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, consists of the der, f, in front of which is a jute or card-board disk, g, and a felt or other wad, h. The base of the primer-case a a has a rim, a which engages with or seats itself upon a shoulder or annular seat at the base of the tubular shell t, fixed in the cartridge-case 70. (See Fig. 1.) The tubular shell i may either be made solid with the cartridge-case 7a or be made separately and fitted tightly in the base of the cartridge-case, as represented in the drawings. The part a of the primer-case a a situated beyond thewad h is slit longitudinally at a with two or more slits, so as to make that part of the primer-case elastic. In the slit or elastic part a of the primer-case is an annular bead or projection, a.

It will be seen by an examination of Fig. 1 that the open base of the shell t' in the cartridge-case has an annular sunken seat at Z, on which the rim a of the primer a (t seats itself, so as to bring the head of the primer flush with the base or end of the said shell. Near the inner end of the chamber 2' is an annular groove or recess, m, for the bead or projection of on the slit or elastic part a of the primertube to spring into.

The primer-tube having been charged with the fine priming-powder, f, anvil e, and percussion-cap c d, it is ready to be fixed to the cartridge when required. To effect this the slit or elastic part a of the primer is introduced into the shelli in the cartridge-case 7c and the primer is pressed down by the thumb. As the split or elastic part a of the primeris introduced into the shell 1', the said part a is compressed and contracted, and on the bead or annular projection a reaching the annular groove or recess m in the shell the elastic part of the primer-case expands or opens out and its bead or project-ion of springs into the groove or recess m, as represented in Fig. 1. The primer is thus fixed securely in its place in the cartridge, and the cartridge is ready to be fired in the ordinary way.

In order to facilitate the removal of the -primer from the cartridge when necessary or desirableas, for example, in case of a misfire and for recharging-J make in the base of the cartridge-case two depressions, 6 b opposite each other and inclined downward, as indicated in'dotted lines in Fig. 1. To remove the primer from the cartridge or cartridge-case, it is only necessary to insert the ends of a pair of forceps into the depressions b b and under the rim a of the primer a a By then closing the forceps with a gentle pressure and liftingthem the primer may be withdrawn from the Shelli in the base of the cartridge-case.

In the modified primer represented in Fig.

4 the base of the primer-tube a a is expanded and the anvil e is made in one piece. with the tubular percussion-cap holder 6 the end of the said cap-holder 6 being turned inward upon the percussion-cap c d to hold it in its place. The combined anvil and cap-holder e 6 carrying the percussion-cap c d, is fitted into the recess bat the expanded base of the primer-tube a a The split part of the primer-tube a Fig. 4, has a conical bead or projection, a, for springing into a correspondingly-shaped groove or depression in the chamber 11 in the cartridge-case when the primer-tube is pressed home in the said chamber 'i, as hereinbefore described.

In Fig. 5 the combined anvil and percussion-cap holder 6 e isheld firmly in the tubu-.

lar base I) of the primer-tube a a by the clastic or gripping action of the said base I),

which is split for that purpose, as represented, I

the flanges 19 of the said elastic base I) of the primer-tube resting on the seat Z at the base of the chamber 2' in the cartridge-case.

In Fig. 6 the head of the primer is furnished with the nipple q and the open end of the percussion-cap 0, containing the fulminate, d, is made elastic by longitudinal slits in the said end, so that when the percussion-cap is pressed upon the nipple of the primer the elastic end of the said cap springs upon the contraction g near the bottom of the nipple, and the said cap is firmly held upon the said nipple. The percussion-cap in this modification has a rim, 0 for fitting on the seat or shoulder Z, in the chamber 1', carried by the cartridge-case 7c.

I do not broadly claim a cartridge-shell provided with an aperture for the cap, said aperture having depressions in its sides, in combination with a primer or cap having elastic tongues bent outwardly and engaging said depressions for holding the cap in place, as such is in Letters Patent issued August 14, 1888, to W. Lorenz, No. 387,723.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my invention and the manner in which the same is to be per= formed, I declare that I claim as my invention of new or improved movable primers for cartridges .or ammunition and other explosive charges- 1. The combination, with a cartridge-case, 7c, of the tubular chamber 2', seated in the .base of the cartridge-case, the tube a, having an inner split end and an outer rim, a seated in the outer end of the tubular chamber and provided with a cavity, 1), containing the anvil c, said tube containing the priming charge of powder, f, and powder-retaining wad it between its inner split end, and the anvil and the percussion-cap 0, located in the cavity of the tube, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the cartridge-case is, of the tubular chamber secured in the base thereof and provided with the annular seat Z in its outer end, the tube at, having an inner split end and alateral rim, a at its outer end, located in the annular seat of the tubular chamber, and provided with the cavity 1) and anvil 6, said internal tube containing the priming charge of powder, f, and the powderreta-ining disk g and Wad h between its split end, and the anvil and the percussion-cap c in the cavity of the tube, substantially as described.

THOMAS RICHARD BAYLISS.

\Vitnesses:

GEORGE SHEVE, RICHARD SKERRETT. 

